The quaint seaside cafe, said to have “the best garden in the county,” has been highly praised this year despite fears that locals might convert to private residences.
Already welcomed as one of the nation's top 20 ocean-dinner days, the small eatery is just a few yards from East Portremas Ferry. You can enjoy a stunning view of the estuary. This is one of the most coveted corners on the UK coastline, with an average home price of £750,000.
As is known, the old stable is surrounded by an area known by locals as “millionaires” columns and is owned nearby by celebrities such as Steve Ryder, Kate Bush and Michael Parkinson.
Since its reopening, the cafe has been an instant hit. Not only has its tourists, it has become an important local to maintain business during the winter.
Cafe's general manager, Charlotte Hodgson, expressed pride in serving the local community at Devon Live. She explained: “We can get milk instead of essentially having to talk to anyone during the day and driving to Kings Bridge for 40 minutes.”
Charlotte emphasized the importance of ethical practices in old stables, including using locally produced pork on fair trade organic coffee beans and bestselling homemade sausage rolls for espresso machines.
“We use organic vegetables and fruits and our meat comes from our local farm,” explained Charlotte. Just across the hill, local farmer John Taylor and his wife Liz, Liz, raise a herd of Devon Lane black pigs, supplying not only the old stables but also the sister cafes of Village Farm.
Another small company appeared on John's land, with many of the vegetables and salad ingredients used in the cafe being cultivated, making it a truly farm-to-table operation with minimal food miles.
Opened under current management in April this year, Old Stable is rapidly gaining a reputation as a must-see destination for anyone traveling around South Devon.
“It's an incredible place,” Charlotte said, adding that there is probably no other area where you can enjoy coffee while enjoying such a stunning view. “We can also see the sunset when the rest of Salcom is in shadow,” she adds.
Looking beyond simple coffee and nice sausage rolls, Charlotte says she and John have ambitions to expand their cafe's events repertoire. She continued: “We potentially had yoga classes on the beach and the brunch could continue.
In addition to the hot drink range and the cafe's notable sausage rolls, visitors can try out salcom smoky, local mackerel dishes, or curry rum and flatbread, or sourdough panzanella salad.
Last winter, the cafe played host to the feast night, with Charlotte emphasizing that “anything that keeps things going during the winter in such a quiet countryside.”
She added that despite being in such a small village, the cafe is part of a small group of businesses in the area. “We have a florist. We have a reflexologist. We have a craft center for kids called Nature Make.
